McKenna parks and recreation master plan team members Gage Belko, assistant planner, and Laura Haw, urban planner, collect public input during the Juneteenth celebration at Centennial Commons in downtown Royal Oak June 19.
By: Sarah Wojcik | Royal Oak Review | Published June 22, 2022
ROYAL OAK — On May 23, the Royal Oak City Commission unanimously approved a proposal from McKenna to assist in the preparation of an updated five-year parks and recreation master plan for an amount not to exceed $78,500.
The parks and recreation master plan is a guiding document that provides staff with strategic development direction on the city’s 350 acres of parks and programming based on community engagement.
The current five-year parks and recreation master plan, approved in 2018, expires this year, and a current plan is required for many parks and recreation grant opportunities. According to the proposed timeline, the master plan will be presented to the City Commission for adoption in December of this year.
In January, the city put out a request for qualifications for the development of an updated plan, with the specific requirement of proposed strategies for conducting stakeholder engagement. Four firms responded with lump-sum, not-to-exceed costs, and staff interviewed representatives from each firm.
Although McKenna’s cost was the highest, Director of the Departments of Public Services and Recreation Aaron Filipski said staff felt McKenna’s proposal provided the greatest level of detail. The proposal calls for at least four “field day” events to gain public input, walk-throughs of all the city’s 51 parks, as well as more traditional engagement methods such as surveys.
The other bids came from MCSA Group Inc. at $27,000, Carlisle/Wortman Associates Inc. at $24,860, and LA + Creative at $42,500. All three bids included two community input meetings.
In addition to regular progress meetings with staff, the McKenna proposal includes eight stakeholder roundtable interviews with related boards, civic groups and other community organizations, according to a city memo.
“When the process is completed, we will have better and more refined goals and objectives for our parks and programming, recommendations on accessibility and sustainability, a report on the general conditions and deficiencies that we’re facing currently and, most importantly, a five-year action plan that can inform our capital improvement plan planning process,” Filipski said.
He added that McKenna’s proposal will “impose fewer demands on staff in the preparation of materials, agendas, publicity fliers, notices, maps and other documents required to conduct engagement sessions.”
Mayor Pro Tem Melanie Macey said she was impressed with the level of detail included in McKenna’s proposal.
“I like that they’re going to have this really robust community engagement. That was something that obviously we’ve been asking for repeatedly,” Macey said. “Parks are really important to our residents. We know they are, and if we’re thinking about putting a millage on them, we have to know what they want and what they’re looking for, so I think this is really worth it.”
For more information, visit romi.gov or call Royal Oak City Hall at (248) 246-3000.